Vanuatu Criminal Law Insights

19/12/2023

David Jurin Welwel was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for:
⚠Sexual in*******se without consent
⚠Escape from lawful custody

On 13 May 2023, in the early morning, Mr Welwel had called to Ms Johnwell on the road, then insisted and forced her to follow him to look for palm leaves even though she said that she could not follow him as it was her Sabbath so she must hurry to get her clothes for church. He held her hands, removed her clothes and inserted his p***s halfway into her va**na. After that, Ms Johnwell put her clothes back on then he held her aloft holding her hands and legs and threw her onto the road. He told her not to tell her family what he had done. Mr Welwel is a father of Ms Johnwell’s; she did not expect him to offend in such manner against her. He did not ask Ms Johnwell to have s*x with him. She did not consent to what Mr Welwel did to her. Mr Welwel could not have believed on reasonable grounds that Ms Johnwell was consenting at the time that the in*******se occurred.

🔍http://www.paclii.org/vu/cases/VUSC/2023/249.html

29/10/2023

19/10/2023

Tom Kleopas was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for:
⚠️1 count of attempted unlawful s*xual in*******se
⚠️1 count of unlawful s*xual in*******se

Tom s*xually abused the Victim on several occasions when she was only 13 years old in 2021.The attempted offending occurred until 2022 when the victim turned 14 years old. The victim cried and told the defendant to stop, but he ignored her pleas. He gave her VT200 and told her not to tell anyone about it. He continued the s*xual abuse until she became pregnant and had a miscarriage at the Liro Health Centre on Paama Island.

🔍https://courts.gov.vu/court-activity/judgments/supreme-court/570998-public-prosecutor-v-kleopas

16/10/2023

Casabella Lakone pleaded guilty to:
⚠️obtaining property by false pretense (Charge 1)
⚠️obtaining money by false or misleading statements (Charge 2)

Ms Lakone obtained copies of 11 women’s National I.D. cards with the promise that she would use the copy of their I.D. cards to find them a job. She then used the National I.D. cards to falsely borrow money from Hello Vanuatu.

She was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, but the sentence was suspended for two years on the condition that she pays back the money she stole.

https://courts.gov.vu/court-activity/judgments/supreme-court/568699-public-prosecutor-v-lakone

16/10/2023

Parmod Achary v Public Prosecutor (VNPF GM Criminal Case)

On 18th August 2023, the Court of Appeal (CoA) rejected the appeals made by Parmod Achary, the former General Manager (GM) of Vanuatu National Provident Fund (VNPF), against his conviction and sentencing.

Pic: Vanuatu Daily Post
Yu saveh ridim full judgement blong kot lo link below 👇
https://courts.gov.vu/court-activity/judgments/court-of-appeal/564538-achary-v-public-prosecutor

15/10/2023

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